News & Events

2013 Schoolhouse History Gallery Project

Our emphasis this year has been toward making the schoolhouse a more historic site. Our first step was to recreate a classroom setting in the main room of the building. Two old student desks and chairs have been arranged in front of an original slate blackboard and the iconic pictures of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington found in every schoolhouse during that time period. If you look closely you’ll find period textbooks in the desks that have been generously donated by local Norwood residents. That small vignette was completed during the winter and in the spring we launched our gallery initiative.

The Norwood Preservation Trust is a new annual project focus to promote community interaction through local historical stewardship. Our 2013 effort is a modest target of $2500 to curate and display a permanent photographic gallery of Norwood Schoolhouse history. Any gift of $50 or more not only goes toward the professional matting and framing of the chosen photographs, but automatically entitles the donor membership in the Norwood Area Historical Society and free event admission for the whole family, as well as discounts at the History Store. We have had wonderful response from the community; we are about half-way to our goal. We will be moving ahead and framing some of the photographs this fall. As our membership increases and support for this project comes in we hope to have the entire gallery complete before the beginning of our next season.

Want to adopt one of the photos for the gallery? Your contribution of $50 enables us to get one small photo printed, matted and framed. Your contribution of $100 enables us to get a medium photo ready for display. And your contribution of $200 fully covers the cost of printing, matting and framing a large photo. Send in your check made payable to Norwood Area Historical Society, PO Box 595, Charlevoix, MI 49720 today!